Bag seal



J. TAMASSY BAG SE'AL April 24, 1928. 1,667,609

. Filed Nov. 12 1926 awuewcoz Patented Apr.. 24, 1928.

UNITED STATES JAY TAMASISYLOF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ome e BAG SEAL.

Application ined November 1 2, 1926. serial No. 148,621..

provide a novel and improved methodof sealing the mouth of a bag, which is both effective and inexpensive, being'adapted to 'be carried into practice by means of machines whichmay be made entirely automatic in their operation.

A further object is to provide a novel and improved means for fastening the two strands of a string after Winding it about the neck of a bag in order to seal the bag.

A still further object is to provide a novel and improved bag adapted to be used as a container or cartridge for tea leaves and the like, said being provided with a string or With other similar suspension means secured to -the bag in a novel and improved manner Whichis also perse, one of the features of the present invention. b

Other objects and advantages of the, present inventioi' will more fully appear as the description proceeds and will be set forth and claimed in the appended claim;

Theuse of small bags made out of red tively inexpensive fabric, as containers for ,tea leaves or other substances adapted to make infusi0ns,. is Well known. The bags used are generally of the open mouthed type, and after a baghas Y been filled ivith tea leaves or ground coffee or the like, just enough for a single brewing, its mouth is drawn into folds and some suitable means are employed for holding the mouth closed.

suitable, suspensionmeans Whl0l1 can be used for holding the begin suspens on when it is being inserted into a cup of boiling Water, and, said string or suspension means 1Sfg611- erally secured to the bag by means o f'tlie nature of the seal applied:

an ivhich holds the mouth of the bagclosed.

Theot'herend of the string is usually pro- 'vided Witha tag affording a convenient ineans of lioldingthe string, While the bag s thus inserted lnto the hot Water; and in the present case, I also provide an improved method of attaching the string to the bag,

iv-hich isquite similar to the Way of fasten- 111g the loop portion of the string wound around the neck/of thebag, the finished arti- 'cle 'co1npris'ing the ba proper, the string at- -tz' c'hefd thereto, and 't 1e bag attached to the string being suitable forinass production ineansof machines, the operation of which is entirely automatic, H V

This ieature is very important because low cost of production is absolutely essential in type of product, sinee individual con ainers tortea leavesare produced in large quantities and mustbe soldwithin certain definite price limits; if the increase in fcos't the consumer due to the costofpacking is h gh, the article jbecomes unsaleable, and this 11s a condit on which imparts a special inip'orta n'ce to any improvement which may be introduced in the method of sealing and otherwise preparing the containers, tending to reduce the cost; 'of the "product, without impairing its capacity forgiving effective service. V i

In produc't's of this nature, it is also desirable that the seal be of such naturethat any attempt to t mper with the contents of the bag for the purpose of substituting an inferior product or for the purpose of refilling an empty bag for resale purposes, will be prevented or defeated by the cost entailed.

In the accompanying drawings, I illus trat'e a preferred embodiment of my inv en.

nomad in the same- Fig.1 a View in perspective of a tea Cartr dge embody ng my invention;

Fig. .2 is a fragmentary view in elevation of the neckpfortion of 'the bag used in 1 in an enlarged ,scal'e fshou 'ing ini'detaihthe Fig; 3-is a planv sectional view through the .neck of the bag in Fig. 2; p i

Fig. 4 is a detail plan View showing two strands of the string to'be fastened together by means or; a e-metal clip, preferably obtained from a coil or strip;

Fig. 5 is a detail view in perspective of the same showing the clip applied in position; and

Fig. 6 is a detail view illustrating a modified Way of attaching the bag to a string.

Referring to Fig. 1, 10 designates a bag made of suitable fabric, preferably open mesh cotton fabric, adaptedto contain a predetermined quantity of tea leaves or coffee. The bag is open at the top and after filling its mouth is closed by gathering together its edges into folds, and thenit' is maintained closed by applying or winding about'its neck, the free end of a, suspension string or wire 11 formed into a loop as shown at 12, and by fastening the free end of the vire string to the body thereof by means of a metallic clip 13, preventing the loop portion of the string or wire from becoming loose.

In the embodiment of my invention shown, which is the one that I prefer on account of its simplicity, one of the ends of the wire or string 11 is simply bent over to form a U-shaped loop, about the neck of the bag as shown in Fig. 3; the two strands of the wire or string again come together after encircling the neck, and are then fastened together by means of a suitable clip made out of a relatively soft flat metallic wire or strip.

In its original form, the clip is merely an elongated piece of metallic strip preferably having its two ends pointed or at a slant, so that a general outline of the clip'is not rectangular but is rather rhomboidal in shape.

The two strands of string or wire are applied against the inner surface of the clip and the twopointed ends 14, 15, of the cllp are then bent over and flattened against the strands-remaining clamped thereto. The pointed ends of the clip are preferably long enough to reach over both strands so that after the operation is completed, there are two straight edges and two inclined edges abutting against the strands of wire or string, all exerting a frictional resistance which very effectively prevents the clip from slipping off and also prevents the noose. or loop of the string from getting loose.

The metallic clip must, of course, be made out of metal which is not injurious to health and which is not easily corrode-d, although a good, grade of soft iron wire has been found to be both inexpensive and satisfactory. 1 Aluminum is also suitable, as Well as tin, but these two metals are somewhat expensive, and therefore when the price limitations are too severe, it may not be possible to employ them@ 7 On the other hand, irrespective of any price consideration, copper or bras-s or zinc should not be used on account of the poisonous nature of some of their salts which may may be employed.

The sealing of the bag is thus obtained in a relatively simple manner entailing operations of an equally simple character; and one important feature o'f'the arrangement is that the string serves both as a means for sealing the bag and as 'a meansfor handling "and suspending the same, so that due to this fea-' ture, the cost of production is further appreciably reduced.

The other end of the string carriesatag 16, aifording a convenient means for holding the string and bag suspended therefrom. Also, in this case, the end of the string is preferably formed into a loop, its free end being inserted through'or wound aboutthe tag and being brought alongside the body of thestring to be fastened thereto, by means of a clip 17 quite similar in design, principle and operation, to the clip 13 previously de-v scribed.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, the tag is provided with an opening 18, through which the free end of the wire may be inserted, and then folded over close to the body of the string to be fastened thereto by means of clip 17 as stated. i I r In the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 6, the tag 19 is formed with aneck portion 20, about which may extend the loop portion 21 of the outer end of the string, the free end of said loop being like in the previous case brought alongside the body of the string and fastened thereto by means of a clip 22, ap-

plied in the same manner as previously 'described.

' The clip by means of whichthe string loop is secured to the tag, may also be applied mechanically; and in fact in practice, the same machine folds, fastens and secures both ends of the string applying a clip at each end in the manner described, cutting off both from the same strip or coil. 1

In the case of bags of ordinary size, the type of fastening means described maybe placed in position by hand or by means of an ordinary pair of pliers, as well as by machines or by automatic production methods; but in the case of small bags suchas are used to hold a small quantity of tea leaves or coffee, it is very difiicult to press the clip in position without the aid ofsome specially designed machine, therefore, this makes it all the more difficult for anyone to open the clip and replace it. Labor costs are so important an item in the production of articles of this kind, that the moment the these unfair practices are therefore discour aged before they are attempted. Although for the sake of simplicity I prefer to fold the suspension string into a single loop as shown, it is obvious that if desired, the free end of the string may be wound one or more times about the neck of the bag before its free end is fastened to the body of the strin therefore the word loo hereafter mentioned in the claim, will be understood to mean either a single or a multiple loop as the case may be. e g

The invention may be variedin other minor details without departing from the inventive idea and accordingly, the drawings will be understood as being intended for illustrative purposes'only and not in a lim iting sense.

Therefore, I reserve myself the right to carry my invention into practice in any way or manner which may enter fairly into the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

An infusorial container comprising an open mouthed bag made of flexible fabric,

having its mouth closed by gathering its folds together to form a neck, a. flexible suspension member therefor, having one of its ends formed into a loop encircling said neck, and a metallic clip formed by a relatively short length of fiat metallic wire having a body portion abutting against the strands of said loop and having two slanted ends each end being bent and flattened over both said strands, fastening the free end of said loop to the body portion of said suspension memher. I a

JAY TAMASSY. 

